Troopers cite juveniles for killing black bear cub with air rifle

Two Homer juveniles have been cited for killing a black bear cub with an air rifle.

Todd Van Liere, a Fish and Wildlife Protection trooper, said a necropsy found a .177-caliber BB in the cub's lung.

Van Liere said a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy found the 11-month-old cub in a tree last month and shot at it numerous times with an air rifle to get it to come down.

It is unlikely that an adult bear would have been killed by the air rifle, Van Liere said, but any animal could be killed if hit in the right place. Distance was a factor, he said. The juveniles were partway up the tree when they shot at the bear.

Van Liere said he did not know where the cub's mother was or why it was not hibernating. It may have been roused from its den by dogs, he said.

Reference:

Anchorage Daily News